Non-Standard API

node-canvas extends the canvas API to provide interfacing with node, for example streaming PNG data, converting to a Buffer instance, etc. Among the interfacing API, in some cases the drawing API has been extended for SSJS image manipulation / creation usage, however keep in mind these additions may fail to render properly within browsers.

Image#src=Buffer

node-canvas adds Image#src=Buffer support, allowing you to read images from disc, redis, etc and apply them via ctx.drawImage(). Below we draw scaled down squid png by reading it from the disk with node's I/O.

If image data is not tracked, and the Image is drawn to an image rather than a PDF canvas, the output will be junk. Enabling mime data tracking has no benefits (only a slow down) unless you are generating a PDF.

Canvas#createPNGStream()

To create a PNGStream simply call canvas.createPNGStream(), and the stream will start to emit data events, finally emitting end when finished. If an exception occurs the error event is emitted.

Currently only sync streaming is supported, however we plan on supporting async streaming as well (of course :) ). Until then the Canvas#toBuffer(callback) alternative is async utilizing eio_custom().

Canvas#createJPEGStream()

You can likewise create a JPEGStream by calling canvas.createJPEGStream() with some optional parameters; functionality is otherwise identical to createPNGStream(). See examples/crop.js for an example.

Canvas#toBuffer()

A call to Canvas#toBuffer() will return a node Buffer instance containing all of the PNG data.

canvas.toBuffer();

Canvas#toBuffer() async

Optionally we may pass a callback function to Canvas#toBuffer(), and this process will be performed asynchronously, and will callback(err, buf).

canvas.toBuffer(function(err, buf){
});

Canvas#toDataURL() async

Optionally we may pass a callback function to Canvas#toDataURL(), and this process will be performed asynchronously, and will callback(err, str).

canvas.toDataURL(function(err, str){
});

or specify the mime type:

canvas.toDataURL('image/png', function(err, str){
});

CanvasRenderingContext2d#patternQuality

Given one of the values below will alter pattern (gradients, images, etc) render quality, defaults to good.

fast

good

best

CanvasRenderingContext2d#textDrawingMode

Can be either path or glyph. Using glyph is much faster than path for drawing, and when using a PDF context will embed the text natively, so will be selectable and lower filesize. The downside is that cairo does not have any subpixel precision for glyph, so this will be noticeably lower quality for text positioning in cases such as rotated text. Also, strokeText in glyph will act the same as fillText, except using the stroke style for the fill.

Defaults to path.

This property is tracked as part of the canvas state in save/restore.

Global Composite Operations

In addition to those specified and commonly implemented by browsers, the following have been added:

multiply

screen

overlay

hard-light

soft-light

hsl-hue

hsl-saturation

hsl-color

hsl-luminosity

Anti-Aliasing

Set anti-aliasing mode

default

none

gray

subpixel

For example:

ctx.antialias ='none';

PDF Support

Basic PDF support was added in 0.11.0. Make sure to install cairo with --enable-pdf=yes for the PDF backend. node-canvas must know that it is creating
a PDF on initialization, using the "pdf" string:

var canvas =newCanvas(200, 500, 'pdf');

An additional method .addPage() is then available to create
multiple page PDFs:

Benchmarks

Although node-canvas is extremely new, and we have not even begun optimization yet it is already quite fast. For benchmarks vs other node canvas implementations view this gist, or update the submodules and run $ make benchmark yourself.

Contribute

Want to contribute to node-canvas? patches for features, bug fixes, documentation, examples and others are certainly welcome. Take a look at the issue queue for existing issues.

Examples

Examples are placed in ./examples, be sure to check them out! most produce a png image of the same name, and others such as live-clock.js launch an http server to be viewed in the browser.

Testing

If you have not previously, init git submodules:

$ git submodule update --init

Build node-canvas:

$ node-waf configure build

Unit tests:

$ make test

Visual tests:

$ make test-server

Versions

Tested with and designed for:

node 0.4.2

cairo 1.8.6

For node 0.2.x node-canvas <= 0.4.3 may be used,
0.5.0 and above are designed for node 0.4.x only.

License

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.